U.S. Set to Take Refugees Rejected by Australia

Republicans in the House and Senate sent a letter to Obama administration officials this week, demanding more details about nearly 2,500 refugees the U.S. is taking from Australian. The refugees, who originate from some of the world’s most dangerous countries, have apparently been rejected by the Australian government. Now, lawmakers want to know why these refugees – too dangerous for Papua New Guinea and Nauru – are perfectly welcome inside the United States.

From Fox News:

In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry, key lawmakers Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., complained about the lack of transparency.

“This situation is concerning for many reasons,” read the letter, charging that “your departments negotiated an international agreement regarding refugees without consulting or notifying Congress.”

The State Department has classified details on the deal, but defended the move in a statement.

“The United States is proud of its long history as the largest refugee resettlement country in the world,” the department said. “As the President has announced, our refugee resettlement program has grown substantially in the last year.

“The United States has agreed to consider referrals from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of refugees now residing in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. These refugees are of special interest to UNHCR and we are engaged on a humanitarian basis, as we are in other parts of the world.”

There’s no concrete reason to believe the refugees have any relationship to terrorism, but they are mostly from countries known for Islamic extremism. According to Fox News, U.S. officials confirmed that the refugees were from Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sri Lanka. Others are considered “stateless.”

Just who you want moving in next door, eh?

But hey, most of them are probably just fine. Hell, maybe all of them except one or two. Why not roll the dice…